US interrogation 'beyond legal limits'

Senate investigators have delivered a damning indictment of CIA interrogation practices after the 9/11 attacks, accusing the agency of inflicting pain and suffering on prisoners with tactics that went well beyond legal limits.

The torture report by the Senate Intelligence Committee says the CIA deceived the nation with its insistence that the harsh interrogation tactics had saved lives. It says those claims are unsubstantiated by the CIA’s own records.

The 500-page report represents the executive summary and conclusions from a still-classified 6,700-page full investigation.

US president Barack Obama says he hopes the release of the report helps to leave the harsh torture techniques ``where they belong - in the past''.

Mr Obama says in a written statement that the report reinforces his view that harsh interrogation techniques “were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counter-terrorism efforts or our national security interests”.